Marina Pascucci, president of CeraNova Corp., describes how her company fabricates the domes – the curved or pointed leading surfaces – of missiles. In this context, she explains how polycrystalline ceramic materials can be both transparent and superior in other ways to something like glass or a monocrystalline material, such as sapphire (alumina). Missile domes need to be transparent in certain wavelengths and over a wide range of their surface because they cover many of a missile’s sensor and systems. Besides transparency, they have to be able to withstand extraordinary mechanical and thermal stresses.
This video is along the same lines as a story we recently posted about a proposal for a new and superior material for missile domes.
Pascucci earned a bachelor’s degree in Ceramic Science and chemistry from Alfred University, and master’s and doctorate degrees in Ceramics/Materials Science from Case Western Reserve University. An ACerS Fellow, Pascucci is president-elect of ACerS. She is a member of the Basic Science and Engineering Ceramics Divisions, and the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers. She is a past chair of the New England Section and also has held officer positions in the Central Ohio Section. She received the F.H. Norton Distinguished Ceramist Award from the New England Section, the Alfred University Career Achievement Award presented by the Alfred University Alumni Association and was one of five invited female speakers at the International Workshop for Women Ceramists held in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of the Korean Ceramic Society in Seoul, South Korea.